1. Field of the Invention
A bar code scanner-and-reader system having an infrared (IR) link between the scanner unit and the reader unit, and vice versa.
2. Description of Related Art
Barcodes are everywhere. Their use on nearly everything which has to be identified and tracked is both optional and mandated. From the family supermarket to the super warehouse; from the cradle to the grave, barcodes are an everyday fact of life and of living.
But a bar code alone, all by itself, has little value. It represents information which has value only when it is "read" and "understood". It is like a reference book in a library that must be read and understood before the book has true value.
This reading (actually scanning) of a standard bar code is done using optical bar code scanners, or similar devices, which project a beam of electromagnetic radiation, such as coherent light, across the bar code; then receive the bar code information represented by the pattern of reflected light from the bar code. This reflected pattern is decoded and ultimately translated by a reader unit into human or machine readable information.
Critical to these bar code systems is the link between the scanner unit and the reader unit. Usually this link is an electrically conductive cord or wire very similar to the electrical link between a computer keyboard and the computer tower; itself linked in similar fashion to the computer monitor or screen. In the computer system environment, such a link is not particularly disadvantageous since both the computer equipment and the user are relatively stationary. But with a bar code scanner, the cord link between the scanner unit and the reader unit can be a disadvantage; it is the "weak" link in the scanner-and-reader system that can be damaged or can lose its functional integrity. Also, the possibility of an accident either to a system operator or to the system structure is real when using a bar code scanner unit having a hard wire link to its reader unit. The link can catch on moving or stationary machinery endangering the user and/or the scanner-and-reader system.
Another thctor to consider today is the increased cost of any scanner-and-reader system having a hard link. The requirement for a hard link comes with an associated cost. Elimination of this link would be an advantageous cost reduction which is very beneficial in today's competitive market.
Elimination of this link can also avoid certain government regulatory requirements which can result in a cost savings. For example: a wireless radio transmitter and receiver system could be used to replace the hard link, but a radio signal interconnect would impose a governmental regulatory requirement for certain licenses necessary to legally operate the system.
Elimination of this link without the use of such a radio signal interconnect can also realize a cost savings in lower power requirements to operate the system.
Therefore, there is a continuing need for an improved, cost effective, safe and simple to operate bar code scanner-and-reader system.